I am getting some really odd feedback for one of our Storyline 360 courses (published for HTML5 with Flash backup). Has anyone encountered this / knows what is going on? Unfortunately I haven't been able to replicate the issue. Here are some of the comments the course is getting:
"Why are all the t's and f's missing?"
"Most all T's and F's are missing"
When opened in Explorer there were missing letter so it was very hard to read.
"Some of the slides had letters missing"
"All the missing letters were very odd. Was there a point?"
"The content was difficult to read mostly because of there were letters missing throughout the slides. It seemed mainly all the "t's" and "f's"
Why are all the t's and f's missing? That was very strange and might be very hard for people with visual difficulties.
I have consistently used calibri font in the past with no problems. Publishing several times today and am having the missing "t" syndrome as well. There also seems to be odd sporadic bolding of some text as well. These issues do not all show up while using Chrome but do so while using IE.
Sorry about that, thanks for letting us know! Can you share one of your .story project files here that you're seeing that happen in so I can do some testing?
You can add it as an attachment to a comment like this:
Thanks for sharing that with me. I published your file and uploaded it to SCORM Cloud to test it in an LMS environment. I'm not seeing what you're describing while viewing it in Internet Explorer.
Take a look at it here and let me know if I've missed something. If I did, would you mind sharing a screenshot here of what you're seeing?
If you're not seeing those issues in that version, I have a couple questions for you:
Are you viewing the course in your LMS when you're seeing this happen in Internet Explorer? Or are you viewing it locally on your machine without uploading it?
Are you on the latest update of Storyline 360? You can check to see if you have any pending updates by opening up your Articulate 360 desktop app.
We’re viewing it through our cloud-based LMS, but the content is stored on a web server hosted by our company. The LMS launches the content through an AICC content package that uses the CORS standard for cross-domain communication. This issue is only showing itself when the content is viewed using Internet Explorer through the LMS. Everything is up-to-date and IE that is being used is 11.953.14393.0.
Thanks for those details and those screenshots- definitely an odd one.
Based on what you're describing, I'm going to set you up in a case with our Support Engineers. They'll be able to dig a bit deeper with you to figure out what's happening here.
They'll be reaching out via email, so keep an eye out for support@articulate.com. I'll also be following along with your case as I'm curious of the cause here.
I'm having the same problem. The font is supposed to be Lato, but appears as a serif font and is missing some Ts and Fs, but only for one person. She is using IE 11, but I have tried in IE 11 and Chrome and am not having the problem. She sent a sceenshot, so that's the only way I have a sense of the problem. She's the client, so I definitely need to make sure it's working correctly for her!
I am getting the same thing. I changed all the fonts to Helvetica and still same issue. This was a template I downloaded from the community and adjusted using 360. I loaded on our LMS and had a different location test and got same issue. I don't have the problem but our retail locations that have older browsers see the issue.
Below is the response I got from the support team when I sent my file. But I also just saw this other thread (https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/storyline-360-font-issue-when-html5-only) that talks about servers where the courses are hosted that aren't configured to properly serve WOFF files. I can't say I understand what that means, but it's certainly different from the response I got, which is about browser settings. I'm not sure if the response below will technically work because I haven't asked the client to edit her settings. The thing is, we can't publish a course that won't display correctly to all users.
The response I got from Articulate Support:
Internet Explorer is known to disable font downloads from web for security reasons.
Here are some troubleshooting steps that might help:
1) Try to disable Internet Explorer's protected mode by following the steps here:
Kristen based on what I have seen I don't think the recommended steps will work (at least in our experience). It seems to be completely random when we have been able to replicate the missing letters and has even occurred in chrome once (Mainly older versions of IE). I have an IT background and manage our server and know that WOFF files are being sent with the correct headers and work throughout on the server. The suggestion for checking IE settings in my experience wouldn't be the culprit as well as it occurs 100% randomly for us without us changing settings in the middle.
In the mean time we wrote a custom player for moodle to account for this issue and don't use HTML5 of any version of IE (only Edge).
I've still been following this thread as it would be nice to drop support completely for flash but for us this isn't a possibility until this issue is resolved.
I also took a look and uploaded your file to SCORM Cloud and tested it out. I didn't see any missing letters but if you'd like to take a look you can access it here.
The issue with the WOFF fonts is something that was a bit older and fixed in an update of Storyline 360 you can see it in the release notes for the January update.
We've also seen a few Learning Management System (LMS) with Internet Explorer force the content to launch in compatibility mode, which presents the content in an older version of IE. Those steps Jonathan sent are a part of that connection and something you may want to look at if your users won't be able to access the course through another browser.
We are a retail environment so I have no control over updating browsers. I will have my IT team take a look and see if we can make a case to get them updated. Thanks for the info as it will help a lot for my case with them. :)
Just curious, but has it been established why it just happens to be the letters 't' and 'f'? Seems so coincidental that these are the letters for True and False.
Happy to help Helen, and feel free to keep us posted.
Will, we haven't seen a reason why it's just those letters, but it's not consistently happening across browsers or platforms either. These are the trickiest kind of issues to troubleshoot.
The problem seems to be getting worse for us. One client that wasn't having any problems previously is now having the problem - missing t's and f's and the font is now appearing as a serif font when it's supposed to be sans serif. She's using Chrome, not IE. The other client client (using IE) is now missing P's in addition to the T's and F's and is also not able to hear the audio.
Yikes, I'm so sorry that's happening! I'm really glad you reached out again, and we want to keep working with you until we find out what's causing all of this.
I spoke with Jonathan and updated him on what your clients are seeing. He's going to reach out to you again shortly!
I wanted to give an update on the issue we've been having. It does seem that the issue is indeed the Internet Explorer's protected mode, the problem is that our client can't change that setting. The setting is locked by their administrator as a safety measure and not even their IT people can change it (why their security settings are so high yet they're stuck with IE is a whole other question, but out of my purview). We're in a bind because they're supposed to be using IE on their work computers, but Storyline 360 simply won't work with their settings. I've had some people on my team try to alter the CSS, but so far it's only working for the menu.
It looks like we're going to have to REBUILD all of our modules in Storyline 2, which no one is excited about. And because flash is so quickly becoming obsolete and SL2's html isn't as robust, it means our courses won't look quite as good in other browsers like Chrome, but it's our only option to work for our clients.
Hi Kristen, we certainly don't want you rebuilding all of your modules in Storyline 2. I know that would mean an enormous amount of time lost, and you would lose access to the new and improved features in Storyline 360. Let's keep looking for a better solution!
I took a peek into your case with Jonathan from a month ago, and I see you shared a Tempshare link with your clients. You mentioned your clients saw missing letters with that link. Was that file published with HTML5/Flash or Flash/HTML5?
352 Replies
Hey John- Ah, ok! Thanks for the additional details here and for letting us know that clearing the cache worked to fix it. That's great info to have.
Let me know if you continue to hit this or if you find that it persists after clearing the cache moving forward!
I have consistently used calibri font in the past with no problems. Publishing several times today and am having the missing "t" syndrome as well. There also seems to be odd sporadic bolding of some text as well. These issues do not all show up while using Chrome but do so while using IE.
Hey Steve,
Sorry about that, thanks for letting us know! Can you share one of your .story project files here that you're seeing that happen in so I can do some testing?
You can add it as an attachment to a comment like this:
Really appreciate it!
Here you go Ali, thank you for your assistance.
Hey Steve!
Thanks for sharing that with me. I published your file and uploaded it to SCORM Cloud to test it in an LMS environment. I'm not seeing what you're describing while viewing it in Internet Explorer.
Take a look at it here and let me know if I've missed something. If I did, would you mind sharing a screenshot here of what you're seeing?
If you're not seeing those issues in that version, I have a couple questions for you:
Keep me posted!
We’re viewing it through our cloud-based LMS, but the content is stored on a web server hosted by our company. The LMS launches the content through an AICC content package that uses the CORS standard for cross-domain communication. This issue is only showing itself when the content is viewed using Internet Explorer through the LMS. Everything is up-to-date and IE that is being used is 11.953.14393.0.
Hey Steve,
Thanks for those details and those screenshots- definitely an odd one.
Based on what you're describing, I'm going to set you up in a case with our Support Engineers. They'll be able to dig a bit deeper with you to figure out what's happening here.
They'll be reaching out via email, so keep an eye out for support@articulate.com. I'll also be following along with your case as I'm curious of the cause here.
This is happening to some of our clients' users too!!! Any clues??? That's supposed to be Open Sans at the top!
Oh no Ashley! That would certainly cause some confusion.
I took a look at the case for Steve above and it looks like we were unable to replicate, so seems specific to his environment/LMS.
Would you be able to share your .story file for us to take a look? If you cannot share it here, you are welcome to share here privately.
I'm having the same problem. The font is supposed to be Lato, but appears as a serif font and is missing some Ts and Fs, but only for one person. She is using IE 11, but I have tried in IE 11 and Chrome and am not having the problem. She sent a sceenshot, so that's the only way I have a sense of the problem. She's the client, so I definitely need to make sure it's working correctly for her!
BTW, I'm using the latest 360 (3.7.12582.0).
Hi Kristen - Looks like you asked a similar question and Ashley reached out to you here.
I am getting the same thing. I changed all the fonts to Helvetica and still same issue. This was a template I downloaded from the community and adjusted using 360. I loaded on our LMS and had a different location test and got same issue. I don't have the problem but our retail locations that have older browsers see the issue.
Below is the response I got from the support team when I sent my file. But I also just saw this other thread (https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/storyline-360-font-issue-when-html5-only) that talks about servers where the courses are hosted that aren't configured to properly serve WOFF files. I can't say I understand what that means, but it's certainly different from the response I got, which is about browser settings. I'm not sure if the response below will technically work because I haven't asked the client to edit her settings. The thing is, we can't publish a course that won't display correctly to all users.
The response I got from Articulate Support:
Internet Explorer is known to disable font downloads from web for security reasons.
Here are some troubleshooting steps that might help:
1) Try to disable Internet Explorer's protected mode by following the steps here:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/63141-internet-explorer-protected-mode-turn-off.html
2) Try to reset Internet Explorer's settings by following the steps here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923737
3) And you might also want to read this article from Microsoft regarding its Compatibility view:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956197
Also, make sure that font download is enabled by going to Internet Options > Security tab > Custom level...
Scroll down until you see Downloads and select Enable in Font download (see screenshot from the link below):
http://drops.articulate.com/0Ny2fm/5vLS5SEA
Kristen based on what I have seen I don't think the recommended steps will work (at least in our experience). It seems to be completely random when we have been able to replicate the missing letters and has even occurred in chrome once (Mainly older versions of IE). I have an IT background and manage our server and know that WOFF files are being sent with the correct headers and work throughout on the server. The suggestion for checking IE settings in my experience wouldn't be the culprit as well as it occurs 100% randomly for us without us changing settings in the middle.
In the mean time we wrote a custom player for moodle to account for this issue and don't use HTML5 of any version of IE (only Edge).
I've still been following this thread as it would be nice to drop support completely for flash but for us this isn't a possibility until this issue is resolved.
Hi Helen,
What browsers are your clients using? They'll want to use one of the supported browsers here.
I also took a look and uploaded your file to SCORM Cloud and tested it out. I didn't see any missing letters but if you'd like to take a look you can access it here.
Hi Kristen,
The issue with the WOFF fonts is something that was a bit older and fixed in an update of Storyline 360 you can see it in the release notes for the January update.
We've also seen a few Learning Management System (LMS) with Internet Explorer force the content to launch in compatibility mode, which presents the content in an older version of IE. Those steps Jonathan sent are a part of that connection and something you may want to look at if your users won't be able to access the course through another browser.
We are a retail environment so I have no control over updating browsers. I will have my IT team take a look and see if we can make a case to get them updated. Thanks for the info as it will help a lot for my case with them. :)
Just curious, but has it been established why it just happens to be the letters 't' and 'f'? Seems so coincidental that these are the letters for True and False.
Happy to help Helen, and feel free to keep us posted.
Will, we haven't seen a reason why it's just those letters, but it's not consistently happening across browsers or platforms either. These are the trickiest kind of issues to troubleshoot.
The problem seems to be getting worse for us. One client that wasn't having any problems previously is now having the problem - missing t's and f's and the font is now appearing as a serif font when it's supposed to be sans serif. She's using Chrome, not IE. The other client client (using IE) is now missing P's in addition to the T's and F's and is also not able to hear the audio.
Yikes, I'm so sorry that's happening! I'm really glad you reached out again, and we want to keep working with you until we find out what's causing all of this.
I spoke with Jonathan and updated him on what your clients are seeing. He's going to reach out to you again shortly!
Just chiming in on this--I have just replicated this issue today as well. I am using Storyline 360, and used Calibri across my entire project.
Clearing the cache worked, I think the workaround for our organization will be to just use a different font.
Hi Katherine,
What browser were you using, and do you know what version of the browser?
I wanted to give an update on the issue we've been having. It does seem that the issue is indeed the Internet Explorer's protected mode, the problem is that our client can't change that setting. The setting is locked by their administrator as a safety measure and not even their IT people can change it (why their security settings are so high yet they're stuck with IE is a whole other question, but out of my purview). We're in a bind because they're supposed to be using IE on their work computers, but Storyline 360 simply won't work with their settings. I've had some people on my team try to alter the CSS, but so far it's only working for the menu.
It looks like we're going to have to REBUILD all of our modules in Storyline 2, which no one is excited about. And because flash is so quickly becoming obsolete and SL2's html isn't as robust, it means our courses won't look quite as good in other browsers like Chrome, but it's our only option to work for our clients.
Hi Kristen, we certainly don't want you rebuilding all of your modules in Storyline 2. I know that would mean an enormous amount of time lost, and you would lose access to the new and improved features in Storyline 360. Let's keep looking for a better solution!
I took a peek into your case with Jonathan from a month ago, and I see you shared a Tempshare link with your clients. You mentioned your clients saw missing letters with that link. Was that file published with HTML5/Flash or Flash/HTML5?